Mohy Omer on Sudan’s war two years in – no clear victory in sight, but is there still a chance for negotiations?
Mohy Omer, at the National Democratic Institute, analyses Sudan’s war two years on. With no clear victory seemingly possible by either side, will negotiations be possible?
Sunday Brunch guest and Strictly Come Dancing star Nikita Kuzmin refused to talk in detail about his personal life after a question from Tim Lovejoy.
Strictly Come Dancing’s Nikita Kuzmin kept his cards close to his chest when asked about his journey into dance on Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch.
The show, hosted by Tim Lovejoy and Simon Rimmer, returned for another three-hour episode filled with recipes, celebrity interviews, and music.
Among the guests was Strictly’s professional dancer Nikita, who discussed his current solo tour.
However, when host Tim delved into Nikita’s early life and how he developed a passion for dance, the 27 year old remained somewhat guarded.
Nikita shared that he moved to Italy with his parents and sister when he was nine but chose not to reveal all when asked about the reasons behind this significant change.
Strictly Come Dancing professional dancer Nikita Kuzmin with his most recent partner Sam Quek.(Image: BBC)
The Strictly star explained: “I think there were two reasons, mainly.
“Number one, my family really wanted a better life for me and my sister. I’m not going to go too deep into that but let’s just say a better life.
“And the other thing, of course, was for dancing. I mean, I moved to Italy and then when I was 13, I moved by myself to Denmark and then I moved back to Italy and then to Germany and then I’m now here and it’s always been to do with dancing.”
Strictly’s Nikita Kuzmin didn’t want to open up about one of the reasons why his family moved to Italy when he was nine-years-old.(Image: CHANNEL 4)
This is the first time the Strictly star has spoken about his childhood in Ukraine before relocating to Italy.
Nikita’s sibling, Anastacia Kuzmina, is another world-championship dancer who has shared the spotlight with actor Andres Gil in three Italian reality shows: Dancing With The Stars, Dancing With You and Pechino Express, a show where celebrities hitchhike across Europe.
In 2019, she also took on the role of host for the children’s dance programme Happy Dance.
Sunday Brunch continues every Sunday at 10am on Channel 4.
A number of Nato jets left from Malbork Air Base to divert away several Kremlin planes this week.
On Tuesday, the Typhoons were scrambled twice after first intercepting and identifying the secret spy plane known as Ilyushin Il-20M.
The Russian aircraft is known as a Communication and Electronic Signals Intelligence Surveillance-Reconnaissance aircraft due to its stealth abilities.
Later in the same day they were again scrambled to intercept two SU-30MKI aircraft as they also left Kaliningrad airspace.
This model of jet is a two-seater air superiority fighter aircraft, according to the Royal Air Force website.
Then on the Thursday, both RAF fighter jets were sent out again after another Ilyushin Il-20M was detected over the Baltic Sea.
The Typhoons are stationed at the base in Poland as part of the UK’s extended contribution to Nato’s enhanced Air Policing efforts in Eastern Europe.
The jets have only been at the base for a few weeks alongside aircraft from Sweden.
The combined effort to protect Europe’s borders from any future Russian invasion threat has been labelled as “Operation CHESSMAN”.
Speaking on the programs success this week, Minister for the Armed Forces Luke Pollard said: “The UK is unshakeable in its commitment to Nato.
“With Russian aggression growing and security threats on the rise, we are stepping up to reassure our Allies, deter adversaries and protect our national security through our Plan for Change.
“This mission shows our ability to operate side by side with NATO’s newest member Sweden and to defend the Alliance’s airspace wherever and whenever needed, keeping us safe at home and strong abroad.”
At the start of April, Nato had to scramble a number of fighter jets as mad Putin unleashed a barrage of nuclear-capable bombers and ballistic missiles on Ukraine.
Russia struck central Kyiv and other locations in brutal strikes involving missiles, kamikaze drones and aerial bombs.
LEXINGTON, Mass. — Thousands of people came to this Massachusetts town over the weekend to witness a reenactment of how the American Revolution began 250 years ago, with the blast of gunshot and a trail of colonial spin.
Starting with Saturday’s anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the country will look back to its war of independence and ask where its legacy stands today. Just after dawn Saturday on the Lexington Battle Green, militiamen, muskets in hand, took on a much larger army of British regulars. The battle ended with eight Americans dead and 10 wounded — the dead scattered on the grounds as the British marched off.
The regulars would head to Concord but not before a horseman, Dr. Samuel Prescott, rode toward the North Bridge, warning communities along the way that the British were coming. A lone horseman reenacted that ride Saturday, followed by a parade through town and a ceremony at the bridge.
The day offered an opportunity to reflect on this seminal moment in history but also consider what this fight means today.
“It’s truly momentous,” said Richard Howell, who portrayed Lexington Minuteman Samuel Tidd in the battle.
“This is one of the most sacred pieces of ground in the country, if not the world, because of what it represents,” he said. “To represent what went on that day, how a small town of Lexington was a vortex of so much. … Lexington was the first town that was able to anywhere muster men and were the first to face the onslaught of the British.”
Among those watching the Lexington reenactment was Brandon Mace, a lieutenant colonel with the Army Reserve who said his fifth great-grandfather Moses Stone was part of the Lexington militia.
He said watching the reenactment was “a little emotional.”
“He made the choice just like I made and my brother made, and my son is in the Army as well,” Mace said. “We weren’t drafted. We weren’t forced to do this. He did not know we would be celebrating him today. He did not know that he was participating in the birth of the nation. He just knew his friends and family were in danger.”
The semiquincentennial comes as President Trump, the scholarly community and others mark a national divide over whether to have a yearlong party leading up to July 4, 2026, as Trump has called for, or to balance any celebrations with questions about women, the enslaved and Indigenous people and what their stories reveal.
The history of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts is half-known, the myth deeply rooted.
What happened at Lexington and Concord?
Reenactors may with confidence tell us that hundreds of British troops marched from Boston in the early morning of April 19, 1775, and gathered about 14 miles northwest on Lexington’s town green.
Firsthand witnesses remembered that some British officers yelled, “Thrown down your arms, ye villains, ye rebels!” and that amid the chaos a shot was heard, followed by “scattered fire” from the British. The battle turned so fierce that the area reeked of burning powder. By day’s end, the fighting had continued around 7 miles west to Concord and some 250 British and 95 Colonists were killed or wounded.
But no one has learned who fired first, or why. And the Revolution was initially less a revolution than a demand for better terms.
Woody Holton, a professor of early American history at the University of South Carolina, says most scholars agree the rebels of April 1775 weren’t looking to leave the empire, but to repair their relationship with King George III and go back to the days preceding the Stamp Act, the Tea Act and other disputes of the previous decade.
“The Colonists only wanted to turn back the clock to 1763,” he said.
Stacy Schiff, a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian whose books include biographies of Benjamin Franklin and Samuel Adams, said Lexington and Concord “galvanized opinion precisely as the Massachusetts men hoped it would, though still it would be a long road to a vote for independence, which Adams felt should have been declared on 20 April 1775.”
But at the time, Schiff added, “it did not seem possible that a mother country and her colony had actually come to blows.”
A fight for the ages
The rebels had already believed their cause greater than a disagreement between subjects and rulers. Well before the turning points of 1776, before the Declaration of Independence or Thomas Paine’s exhortation that “we have it in our power to begin the world over again,” they cast themselves in a drama for the ages.
The so-called Suffolk Resolves of 1774, drafted by civic leaders of Suffolk County, Mass., prayed for a life “unfettered by power, unclogged with shackles,” a fight that would determine the “fate of this new world, and of unborn millions.”
The Revolution was an ongoing story of surprise and improvisation. Military historian Rick Atkinson, whose “The Fate of the Day” is the second of a planned trilogy on the war, called Lexington and Concord “a clear win for the home team,” if only because the British hadn’t expected such impassioned resistance from the Colonists’ militia.
The British, ever underestimating those whom King George regarded as a “deluded and unhappy multitude,” would be knocked back again when the rebels promptly framed and transmitted a narrative blaming the Royal forces.
“Once shots were fired in Lexington, Samuel Adams and Joseph Warren did all in their power to collect statements from witnesses and to circulate them quickly; it was essential that the Colonies, and the world, understand who had fired first,” Schiff said. “Adams was convinced that the Lexington skirmish would be ‘famed in the history of this country.’ He knocked himself out to make clear who the aggressors had been.”
A country still in progress
Neither side imagined a war lasting eight years, or had confidence in what kind of country would be born out of it. The Founders united in their quest for self-government but differed how to actually govern, and whether self-government could even last.
Americans have never stopped debating the balance of powers, the rules of enfranchisement or how widely to apply the declaration that “all men are created equal.”
That debate was very much on display Saturday — though mostly on the fringes and with anti-Trump protesters far outnumbered by flag-waving tourists, local residents and history buffs. Many protesters carried signs inspired by the American Revolution including “No King Then. No King” and “Resist Like Its 1775,” and one brought a puppet featuring an orange-faced Trump.
“It’s a very appropriate place and date to make it clear that as Americans we want to take a stand against what we think is an encroaching autocracy,” Glenn Stark, a retired physics professor who was holding a “No Kings” sign and watching the ceremony at the North Bridge. “I feel strongly that it’s time to stand here and make it clear that we aren’t going to sit back and let this happen to our country.”
Democratic Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, who spoke at the North Bridge ceremony, also used the event to remind the cheering crowd that many of the ideals fought for during the Revolution are once again at risk.
“We live in a moment when our freedoms are once again under attack, including from the highest office in the land,” she said.
“We see things that would be familiar to our Revolutionary predecessors — the silencing of critics, the disappearing people from our streets, demands for unquestioned fealty,” she said. “Due process is a foundational right. If it can be discarded for one, it can be lost for all.”
He did not directly throw a match but was initially suspended for two and a half years, reduced to 20 months after his early admissions and guilty plea – he accepted charges of being a party to another player fixing two matches and betting on matches himself.
Zhao completed his suspension earlier this season and his performances on the Q Tour have earned him a spot back among the professional ranks for 2025-26.
Meanwhile, China’s Xiao Guodong beat England’s Matthew Selt 10-4 to secure a second-round meeting with either John Higgins or Joe O’Connor.
Leading 7-2 overnight, the world number 14 lost the opening two frames of the concluding session but then won three in a row to reach the last 16.
From 14:30 BST, Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen begins his bid for a first world title against Fan Zhengyi as he aims to complete a full set of Triple Crown event victories, while Wales’ three-time champion Mark Williams takes a 5-4 lead into the final session of his first-round match against Wu Yize.
Iran and the United States held “constructive” discussions over the Iranian nuclear programme.
The second round of Oman-mediated talks in Rome took place on Saturday, a week after the first session in Muscat, the Omani capital.
“Technical discussions” are now expected to begin on Wednesday in Oman, after which more high-level meetings will be held to move closer to an agreement.
So, what are these technical discussions? And is an agreement likely?
Here’s what you need to know:
What are these technical talks?
On Wednesday, working-level experts from both sides will begin discussing three main topics: sanctions relief, Iran’s nuclear programme, and regional security.
The sanctions regimes imposed on Iran are complex and multilayered, and each layer has to be linked to a specific action or guarantee Iran is being asked to undertake with regard to its nuclear programme.
Three days after these talks, another round of high-level talks will be held in Muscat.
The last two rounds were indirect talks between Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, passing messages through Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi.
Police officers at one of the entrances to the Omani embassy, where the second round of US-Iran talks took place in Rome, Italy, on April 19, 2025 [Vincenzo Livieri/Reuters]
How did we get here?
Officials are optimistic about the progress on talks that started with US President Donald Trump threatening Tehran with attacks if it did not negotiate.
In early March, Trump said he had written to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, asking for talks on the country’s nuclear programme.
But the letter was sent via the United Arab Emirates, and UAE presidential diplomatic adviser Anwar Gargash delivered it nearly a week after Trump’s announcement.
After saying Trump’s letter had not been received yet, Khamenei declared Iran would not accept the “demands” of “bully governments”.
But something thawed in the normally icy relations, and Iran agreed to indirect talks after Omani mediation.
Interestingly, Oman was also the mediator for the initial secret talks between Iran and the US that led to the JCPOA.
Araghchi and Italy’s Deputy PM Antonio Tajani meet in Rome before the Iran-US talks [Handout via Iranian Foreign Ministry]
Does Iran want a nuclear weapon?
Iran has given no indication that it plans to build a nuclear weapon. In fact, the supreme leader has issued a religious decree years ago prohibiting the pursuit of such a weapon.
When Trump’s threats escalated, Khamenei said if Iran chooses to pursue a nuclear weapon, nobody could stop it. However, he has not reversed his decree prohibiting it.
Wasn’t there a deal limiting Iran’s nuclear programme already?
There was. The 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was a diplomatic win for former US President Barack Obama’s administration.
Under the terms of the deal, Iran committed to regular inspections of its nuclear energy programme in return for relief on some Western sanctions.
However, criticising the agreement during his first term, Trump withdrew from the JCPOA in May 2018 and imposed punitive sanctions on Iran.
Abbas Araghchi speaks with the members of the Iranian delegation after the negotiation in Muscat, Oman, April 12, 2025 [KhabarOnline via WANA]
What does the US want exactly?
One thing that has come up in discussions is how much enriched uranium Iran has and at what level.
Enriched uranium is used for nuclear energy reactors, but that is usually enriched to between 3 and 5 percent.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran has 274.8kg (605.8 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60 percent, lower than the 90 percent enrichment needed for a weapon.
Under the JCPOA, Iran could enrich uranium up to 3.67 percent and keep a uranium stockpile of 300kg (661 pounds).
Witkoff has said 3.67 percent would be an acceptable level of uranium enrichment, which is the same as agreed on in the JCPOA under Obama.
US President Donald Trump has threatened to attack Iran if the negotiations do not go well [File: Alex Brandon/AP Photo]
So, why does Trump want another deal?
It is hard to read Trump’s mind.
But going by what he has said, he sees himself as a dealmaker willing to talk to anyone, even if he ends up with a deal similar to the last one.
He was supposedly influenced by Israel’s opinion when he said the JCPOA was a “bad deal” and left it in 2018.
Israel has long seen Iran as a foe, claiming it is secretly pursuing a bomb and is a bigger regional threat than Israel’s increasingly violent occupation of Palestine.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was so invested that he dedicated part of his 2012 UN General Assembly address to drawing a cartoon bomb with “red lines” through it, to illustrate his point.
Since international inspections began, there has been consensus that Iran was sticking to the deal, although it has increased its enrichment levels since Trump’s withdrawal from the JCPOA.
So, is there going to be a deal?
It is too early to say.
There are promising signs, such as reports that the Iranian and US teams were in the same room for at least part of the second round of negotiations, and the progress made in technical talks.
Araghchi, according to the semiofficial Tasnim news agency, said: “We succeeded in reaching a better understanding on certain principles and goals.”
He posted on Saturday that “for now, optimism may be warranted but only with a great deal of caution”.
Iran has insisted that the US guarantee it will adhere to this agreement. For its part, the US has insisted that Iran halt the uranium enrichment it claims is necessary to run its nuclear energy programme.
An Iranian newspaper with a cover photo of Iran and US flags is seen in Tehran on April 19, 2025 [Majid Asgaripour/WANA]
On April 7, United States President Donald Trump met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a second time since his inauguration. Speaking to the media, Trump doubled down on his earlier comments about the Gaza Strip, describing it as an “incredible piece of important real estate”.
Trump also repeated his suggestion that the Palestinians should leave the Strip “to different countries” and claimed that people “really do love that vision. … A lot of people like my concept.”
Days later, about 70 percent of Gaza had been turned into a “no-go zone” for Palestinians. Confirming that Israel is working “in accordance with the US president’s vision, which we seek to realise”, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz declared Israel’s intention to “seize” more territory, adding that “wilful passage” will be given to Palestinians who want to leave.
It is by now clear that Trump’s statements on Gaza have had the effect of legitimising a longstanding Israeli vision of ethnic cleansing of the Strip. What the US president calls “my concept” is in fact not his at all.
Over decades of Israeli occupation and colonisation of the Gaza Strip, there have been multiple plans to empty out or disperse the Palestinian population in a bid to secure full control over this part of Palestine. The power of colonial practices has also been tested. For example, to draw Israeli settlers and thereby help transform Gaza’s demographics, the Strip was at one point even promoted as the “Hawaii of Israel”.
Left out of Israeli war aims in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the Gaza Strip emerged out of the 1949 Armistice Agreements under Egyptian military rule. Constituting only a small part of what until then had been the Gaza District of Palestine, the Gaza Strip was home to two groups of Palestinians: the local population and refugees – people who had been forced off their land as Israel expanded its territorial reach during the war.
As the guns fell silent, the Gaza Strip became known in Israeli policy circles as the “job unfinished” – a slice of land next to the Egyptian border that Israel’s leaders would like to control, preferably without its Palestinian population.
Israel’s first attempt to take Gaza by force occurred in 1956. But under pressure from US President Dwight Eisenhower, Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion had no choice but to withdraw and put an end to the Israeli occupation. The botched attempt taught Israel an important lesson: To redraw the map of the Middle East and to make its territorial expansionist agenda a success, Israel needed American support and approval.
The 1967 Arab-Israeli War was far more successful in this regard. Through conquest and occupation, the Gaza Strip was brought under direct Israeli rule. This opened the door to revitalise “transfer” – the forced displacement and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. Seen as both necessary and permissible or, in Ben-Gurion’s words, “an important humane and Zionist idea”, transfer was recognised as an effective tool to advance Zionist colonisation of Palestine.
In the following years, as noted by Palestinian historian Nur Masalha, transfer acquired different labels. These included “population exchange”, “Arab return to Arabia”, “voluntary emigration” and “rehabilitation” with different Israeli governments taking different approaches.
One approach was Defence Minister Moshe Dayan’s “open bridges”, which allowed Palestinians in Gaza to leave for other countries in search of work. Another was to open offices in Gaza’s refugee camps to organise and pay for travel and passports for Palestinians willing to “voluntarily migrate”, which in effect turned the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs into a “global travel agency”. Regardless of the approach, Israel’s policy objective remained the same: to create a drive in Palestinians to leave the Strip.
“I want them all to go, even if they go to the moon,” Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol said. Expressing Israeli frustration, Eshkol articulated the feeling of being stuck with what was considered the problem of Gaza. After all, only the Palestinian population there – and the sizeable refugee population in particular – stood in the way of full Israeli annexation.
In response to Israel’s Gaza “dilemma”, its politicians also looked for more comprehensive solutions. This led to an almost continuous flow of plans for the “rehabilitation” of Palestinians outside the Strip. Starting immediately after the 1967 war, a variety of potential destinations came up. These included the West Bank, the Sinai Peninsula, Iraq, or even as far afield as Canada and Australia.
Despite Israeli efforts and elaboration of plans – and much to the disappointment of Israel’s decision-makers – the initiatives came to naught as the number of Palestinians leaving the Strip remained limited. And given other considerations, including moral, legal and diplomatic ones, the plans to displace a large number of Palestinians from Gaza were left in the drawer.
But as Israeli politicians turned to examine their menu of choices in the post-October 7, 2023, era, “voluntary emigration”, or forced displacement, re-emerged. Gone was any sensitivity to international opinion and potential reactions. Instead, Trump has led the way, making statements on Gaza that in effect turn decades of Zionist ideology and practice into official American policy.
By means of his policy stance, the US president has legitimised a longstanding Israeli vision of ethnic cleansing in the Strip. In the process, his articulation of policy has moved ever closer to the strand of Revisionist Zionism that viewed Palestinians as aliens in their own land and, therefore, “transferable”.
In arguing that Palestinians need to go to make Israel and the region safe, Trump has departed from the internationally shared principle that Palestinians in the Gaza Strip – as elsewhere in the occupied Palestinian territory – have legitimate rights to self-determination in their land. As such, Trump brings to mind Revisionist Zionist ideologue Ze’ev Jabotinsky, who argued that “when the Arab claim is confronted with our Jewish demand to be saved, it is like the claims of appetite vs the claims of starvation” with “transfer” inextricably linked to Jewish rights to the land.
The cynical promises of a better future for people who are left with nothing but their land after a brutal war of erasure and plausible genocide must be taken seriously. The legitimacy Trump has given to Israeli plans poses a threat in the here and now, but it could also outlast his presidency.
That is because he has offered US presidential sanction of ethnic cleansing as an acceptable tool. This leaves the door open for Israel – in the near or distant future – to pursue “transfer”, “rehabilitation” and “voluntary emigration” of Palestinians, whether in Gaza or the West Bank.
Furthermore, the American president has repeatedly communicated US support for illegal land seizures and colonisation. Suggesting Gaza (and Greenland) could become “US territory”, he has reintroduced and validated ideas that most leaders of the world had put on the scrap heap of history.
Finally, Trump has shifted the US position away from the premise of working towards a two-state solution. In fact, considering his statements, there appears to be a fundamental disregard for Palestinians in Gaza and their collective right to self-determination.
Looking at current US policy against historical record, Trump’s “Riviera of the Middle East” seems a curious combination of Zionist ethnic cleansing under the “transfer” model and the colonial ideal of the “Hawaii of Israel”.
It is no wonder Trump has been cheered on by Israeli leaders as he calls for the forced depopulation of the Gaza Strip and its transformation into fully fledged colonial territory – annexed or otherwise. After all, Trump’s ideas follow in the footsteps of Zionist leaders from Ben-Gurion to Netanyahu, under whom transfer has been the preferred but diplomatically and legally challenging option all along.
With Trump going out in front, such challenges could turn into tomorrow’s opportunities. It remains the task of other states to stand up against Israeli-American normalisation of continued ethnic cleansing and colonial land grabs in Palestine.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
Welcome to SunSport’s coverage of Man Utd vs Wolves
Manchester United will be desparate to continue their Europa League form into this afternoon’s match against Wolves – and we’ll be covering the action from minute one!
The Red Devils were recently involved in a topsy turvy Europa League quarter-final against Lyon which saw them go two goals up before being pegged back and falling two goals behind.
They’ll now have to readjust their focus back to what has been a well-below par Premier League campaign – and they face a Wolves side who are unbeaten in their last FIVE Prem encounters.
Pontiff had been increasingly vocal about Israel’s military campaign in Gaza before being hospitalised with pneumonia.
During a fleeting appearance before thousands of Catholic pilgrims gathered in St Peter’s Square for the Vatican’s open-air Easter Sunday mass, Pope Francis called for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The 88-year-old pontiff, still recovering from a near-fatal bout of double pneumonia, appeared on the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica on Sunday as an aide read out his “Urbi et Orbi” – Latin for “to the city and the world” – benediction, in which the pope condemned the “deplorable humanitarian situation” caused by Israel’s 18-month war on the Palestinian territory.
“I express my closeness to the sufferings … of all the Israeli people and the Palestinian people,” said the message.
The pope also called on the Palestinian armed group Hamas to release its remaining captives and condemned what he said was a “worrisome” trend of anti-Semitism in the world. “I appeal to the warring parties: call a ceasefire, release the hostages and come to the aid of a starving people that aspires to a future of peace.”
Before his recent five-week stay at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, Francis had been ramping up criticism of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, calling the situation “very serious and shameful” in January.
Francis, who has been under doctors’ orders to observe two months of convalescence since he left the hospital on March 23, would have normally presided over the entire event, but on this occasion was replaced by Cardinal Angelo Comastri.
Reporting from the Vatican, Al Jazeera’s James Bays said: “This is a man who has been very unwell, 38 days in hospital, double pneumonia, kidney problems, and his doctors at one point thought he wasn’t going to make it.”
Bays questioned whether Francis was following his doctors’ advice, having made “short appearances in recent days”, including a visit to a prison in Rome, where he abstained from performing a traditional foot-washing ritual imitating Jesus Christ’s washing of his disciples’ feet.
Asked by a journalist after his visit what he felt about this Easter week in his current condition, the pope replied: “I am living it as best I can.”
Vance visit
Meanwhile, the Vatican also said in a statement that Francis held a private meeting with United States Vice President JD Vance to exchange Easter greetings on Sunday morning.
On Saturday, Vance held talks with the Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and Paul Richard Gallagher, the Holy See’s secretary for relations with states.
Vance’s visit came just two months after a spat between Francis and the administration of US President Donald Trump over its policies, including plans to deport millions of migrants and refugees and widespread cuts to foreign aid and domestic welfare programmes.
The pope, who called the immigration crackdown a “disgrace”, rejected Vance’s attempted use of medieval-era Catholic teachings to justify the policy in an unusual open letter to US Catholic bishops.
“JD Vance [was] trying to interpret a certain theology as saying that you should look after those closest to you before you worry about those abroad. The pope then wrote a letter to US bishops and said: ‘No, you need to think about everyone,’” said Bays.
RUBEN AMORIM has given a first start to academy defender Tyler Fredricson against Wolves.
The centre-back partners Victor Lindelof with Noussair Mazraoui and Patrick Dorgu at full-back.
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Tyler Fredricson makes his first start for Man UtdCredit: Getty
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JACKSON, Mich. — Ryan Kelley thought he had a good shot at becoming Michigan’s governor in 2022.
That is, until he was charged with and eventually convicted of misdemeanors related to his role in the Jan. 6 riot and insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. His campaign sputtered and he finished fourth out of five candidates in the Republican primary.
Three years later, Kelley says, people ask him all the time to run for governor again. In today’s America, where President Trump returned to the White House and within hours pardoned some 1,500 Jan. 6 convicts, Kelley’s two-month prison sentence for his actions that winter day in 2021 isn’t the obstacle to public life it might once have been.
It may even be a ticket to political prominence.
Far from being sidelined, those who rioted, assaulted police officers or broke into congressional offices during the deadly attack — while trying to overturn Trump’s loss in the 2020 presidential election — are now being spotlighted as honored guest speakers at Republican events around the country. They are getting a platform to tell their version of events and being hailed as heroes and martyrs. Some are considering running for office, recognizing that, at least among a certain segment of the pro-Trump base, they may be criminals but they are hailed as patriots.
Kelley, a 43-year-old commercial real estate developer, is among those fielding new opportunities in the political arena.
At a recent county Republican committee event in Jackson, Mich., Kelley was met with hugs and handshakes. Dozens of attendees hollered and clapped when he introduced himself as “your favorite J6-er.” They gasped and shook their heads as Kelley recalled how his young son thought he was dead while he was in federal prison. They urged him to run for governor again in 2026. It is something he said he is debating.
After Kelley finished speaking, attendees said they were touched by his story.
“I’ve done much worse and did no jail time,” said 58-year-old Todd Gillman, a woodworker and Republican chairman for the local congressional district. “Thank God people like Ryan Kelley are not intimidated by the lawfare that was used against them.”
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It makes sense that Republicans are seizing the chance to showcase Jan. 6 rioters, said Matt Dallek, a historian at George Washington University who studies the conservative movement.
Trump, himself a convicted felon, has characterized those rioters as ”political prisoners” and “warriors” for defending him and his false claims that the 2020 election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden was stolen. There is no credible evidence that the election was tainted or that Trump was the winner — facts backed up by federal and state election officials and Trump’s own attorney general. Trump’s allegations of fraud were also roundly rejected by courts, including by judges appointed by him during his first term.
“Those who are pardoned can testify, like no one else can, to the horrific power of the federal government to destroy their lives,” Dallek said. “It’s a potent rallying cry, and also probably a potent fundraising tool.”
There also is a danger to elevating them, he acknowledged. Many of those pardoned by the Republican president assaulted police officers and otherwise used violence to stop the peaceful transfer of power, and juries determined their actions to be criminal — felonies, in many cases.
“It is, I think, a mainstreaming, a growing acceptance on the right of political violence, as long as it’s done in the service of Trump and his ongoing election lie,” Dallek said.
Kelley, who did not commit violence or enter the Capitol, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor trespassing charge. He said he saw some things at the Capitol — people breaking windows, for example — that he did not like. But he also rejected an audience member’s use of the term “insurrection.”
“It was a protest that turned into a little bit of a scuffle later in the day for a couple of minutes, right?” he told the nodding crowd in Jackson, a midsize city west of Detroit that residents say hosted the first official meeting of the Republican Party in 1854.
Extensive video footage and testimony from the events inside the Capitol on Jan. 6 show more than a scuffle. A mob of Trump supporters — some armed with poles, bats and bear spray — overwhelmed law enforcement officers, shattered windows and sent lawmakers and aides running into hiding. Some were threatening to hang Vice President Mike Pence and hunt down Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other lawmakers.
Some 140 police officers were injured, with some dragged into the crowd and beaten or attacked with makeshift weapons. Five officers died, as did four of the rioters.
Kelley said the reason he pleaded guilty was to avoid more serious charges. That differed from his tone in his sentencing hearing in 2023, when he told the judge that his actions outside the Capitol, from crossing the police line to riling up other rioters and ripping a tarp, were wrong. The judge told Kelley: “I think you misused the platform that you had as a candidate for elected office to minimize and, frankly, to lie about what happened.”
As he gazed out at an American flag banner while addressing the crowd in Jackson, Kelley said he “was a political prisoner for standing up for what I believe was right.”
That resonated with attendee Marilyn Acton, a 68-year-old mental health counselor. She hopes pardoned Jan. 6 rioters such as Kelley become more involved in Republican politics.
“I would like them to totally get involved, because I think people need to know the truth,” she said.
Pardoned, platformed and protested
By the Associated Press’ count, at least two dozen local Republican groups nationwide in recent months have invited Jan. 6 rioters to speak at regular meetings or special fundraisers, some with titles such as “Insurrection Hoax” and “Patriots Vindicated.”
They include people who trespassed at the Capitol but also rioters who were criminally convicted and pardoned for more serious crimes such as carrying a firearm on Capitol grounds or violently attacking law enforcement.
The Western Wake Republican Club in North Carolina in March featured remarks from James Grant, a pardoned rioter who was among the first to assault police officers and breach a security perimeter during the attack on the Capitol.
Grant, who later climbed into the Capitol through a broken window and entered a senator’s office, used the stage to reiterate his claim that the 2020 election was stolen as well as another falsehood — that the actions on the front line of the riots were led by “undercovers and federal agents.” In a video recording of the event, he also decried the conditions in prison and said the experience was traumatic for him.
A Republican women’s club in Lawrence County, Tenn., this month hosted an event for Ronald Colton McAbee, who was convicted of felonies for his violent acts on Jan. 6.
He was employed as a sheriff’s deputy in Tennessee when he went to Capitol, dragging an officer away from a police line and punching another officer who tried to stop him.
McAbee told the crowd that the jury that convicted him of five felonies was biased and said he had been trying to help the officer in the melee. He encouraged those listening to get involved in politics and said he had considered running for office himself.
“It has been a thought, and we’ll see what happens,” he said in a video recording of the event.
Some of the local GOP groups welcoming Jan. 6 rioters have faced resistance from their communities, prompting them to relocate or cancel scheduled events.
In California, the Assn. of Monterey Bay Conservatives’ event featuring six pardoned rioters faced so much public outrage that three potential venues canceled, according to TV station KSBW. When the event was ultimately held at a fourth venue, in Salinas, protesters demonstrated outside.
The Monterey Peace and Justice Center, a local nonprofit that condemned the event, said in an emailed statement that “rebranding these rioters as heroes is a dangerous distortion of history.”
Event organizer Karen Weissman told the AP in an email that her group believed that it was “important for our community to hear their stories and hear a different perspective.”
David Becker, a former Justice Department lawyer and co-author of “The Big Truth,” a book about Trump’s 2020 election falsehoods, said he is troubled by anyone who would reward or celebrate what happened on Jan. 6.
“We have to agree as a constitutional republic, as a democracy, that elections and the rule of law have meaning,” he said. “And if we lose that meaning, if we attack our own institutions, we are going down a path where something even worse could happen in the future.”
From conviction to candidacy
Some pardoned rioters are taking things a step beyond speaking at political events and setting their sights on local, state or even federal office.
Jake Lang, who was convicted for assaulting an officer, civil disorder and other crimes before he was pardoned by Trump, recently announced he is running for Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s former U.S. Senate seat in Florida.
Enrique Tarrio, the former Proud Boys leader who was sentenced to 22 years in prison after being convicted of seditious conspiracy and other crimes before his full pardon, said in an interview with Newsmax that he will take a “serious look at running for office” in 2026 or 2028 and believes his “future is in politics.”
In Texas, pardoned rioter Ryan Nichols announced a run for Congress but withdrew days later.
Kelley, who is considering the pleas that he make another run for Michigan governor next year, said is not sure he can commit his young family to the grind of the campaign. He said he wants Michigan to win, whether or not he is the one in office.
Still, he recognizes that Trump’s pardons have opened a window of opportunity that may not last forever.
“Now is kind of the time that I could catapult with that, right?” he said in an interview. “We get a lot of hate, but I’m also going to get a lot of support.”
Swenson writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Christina A. Cassidy in Atlanta contributed to this report.
When Jaslene Massey smiles, it’s contagious. You want to return the smile. She has a bubbling personality that encourages track and field fans to cheer for her to succeed.
In the shotput, she has developed into the favorite to win a state championship. She won the Orange County championships with a mark of 50 feet, 7 inches. She’s the first California high school girl to surpass 50 feet since 2016.
Last week she won the Arcadia Invitational. On Saturday, she won at the Mt. SAC Relays. She finished second last year in the Southern Section Masters Meet at 46 feet and third in the state championship after being a high jumper as a freshman.
“It’s definitely come as a shock to me,” said Massey, a junior who has a 4.4 grade-point average. “Last year I thought I was going to go 47 feet. Now I want to keep working.”
She deserves to be considered one of the best female athletes in Southern California, because she’s also a standout volleyball player and was a youth figure skater. Her athleticism has been put to good use in the shotput, something she had not done until high school.
“She’s so strong and explosive,” her club coach, Mike O’Dell, said.
O’Dell first saw her at a meet and went to her parents to offer support. “I saw her throw a shotput like it was a three-pointer,” he said.
She’s 5 feet 9 with long arms, making her a good fit for the event.
“Being long really helps,” said Sherman Oaks Notre Dame throwing coach Nick Garcia.
O’Dell helped revise Massey’s training, including in the weight room.
“The way I weightlifted completely changed,” she said. “I was doing it on my own freshman and sophomore year. I think my explosive ability from volleyball really helps. He’s been able to build me up.”
NFL draft
This coming week will be a big week for fans of Servite High football, because two former Friars, defensive lineman Mason Graham and receiver Tetairoa McMillan, are expected to be selected on Thursday during the opening night of the NFL draft.
Servite’s Mason Graham has 10 sacks.
They were teammates on Servite’s 2021 team that lost to Mater Dei in the Southern Section Division 1 championship game before moving on to Michigan and Arizona, respectively.
Former Servite coach Troy Thomas, at the invitation of Graham, will attend the draft in Green Bay.
There’s lots of unique things to like about both in this time of change in the sports world. For one, they were both four-year players at Servite and multiple-sport athletes. Graham also played rugby and wrestled. McMillan played basketball and volleyball. “They check every box. High character, durable,” Thomas said.
Servite receiver Tetairoa McMillan had 15 receptions against Mater Dei in 2021.
(Dylan Stewart 1550)
Both endured the pandemic of 2020-21. It affected Graham’s recruiting. He didn’t become a top recruit until late in his senior season. “Every year, he got better and kept growing,” said Thomas, who remembers him as a 6-1, 200-pound freshman. “He was 265 junior year and 285 senior. He played like a linebacker on the defensive line.”
McMillan was one of the best athletes at Servite. His intelligence and toughness came through in practices and games. “His control in the air has been a big factor,” Thomas said. “He does so many things well. It seems effortless and seems easy when you watch him. He’s very competitive and very tough.”
Another player who should be taken taken in the first two rounds is former Oaks Christian and UCLA linebacker Carson Schwesinger. He started out as a walk-on for the Bruins and also had his recruiting affected by the pandemic even more, graduating in 2021 after a brief spring season of football. His story will be told again and again about a teenager seeking a chance and trusting the process.
Pope Francis has appeared at the Vatican’s St Peter’s Square to wish “Happy Easter” to thousands of worshippers.
The Pope, 88, came out in a wheelchair and waved from the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica to cheering crowds below, saying: “Dear brothers and sisters, Happy Easter.”
His traditional Easter address was delivered by a clergy member.
After the blessing, the Pope was driven around the square. As he passed through the crowds, his procession paused a number of times as babies were brought over for him to bless.
His appearance on Easter Sunday had been highly anticipated. Last month, he was discharged from hospital after five weeks of treatment for an infection that led to double pneumonia.
In his Easter blessing, delivered by a clergy member as the Pope sat looking frail beside him, the pontiff said: “There can be no peace without freedom of religion, freedom of thought, freedom of expression and respect for the views of others.”
Prior to Sunday’s celebrations, the Pope had been seen out twice this week.
Tens of thousands of Catholics had gathered in Rome for Easter Mass during this special jubilee year, which takes place every 25 years and sees millions of pilgrims descend on the city.
The jubilee year kicked off with the Pope opening the usually bricked-up Holy Door at St Peter’s Basilica on 24 December.
For the first time since becoming pope in 2013, he had missed the majority of Holy Week events, including Saturday’s Easter vigil at St Peter’s Basilica, where he delegated his duties to cardinals.
But, during a brief appearance inside the basilica on that day, he prayed and gave sweets to children.
When he was discharged from hospital in March, his doctors had said he would need at least two months of rest at his residence.
The pontiff had presented “two very critical episodes” where his “life was in danger” while in hospital, according to one of the doctors who took care of him.
Dr Sergio Alfieri added that the Pope was never intubated and always remained alert and oriented in hospital.
Pope Francis, who is from Argentina, has suffered a number of health issues throughout his life, including having part of one of his lungs removed at age 21, making him more prone to infections.
Also on Sunday morning, US Vice-President JD Vance – a Roman Catholic who converted as an adult – had a brief private meeting with the Pope.
Vance arrived in Rome on Friday, and on Saturday met with the Vatican’s Secretary of State and Secretary for Relations with States and International Organisation.
During “cordial talks”, the parties expressed satisfaction with “good existing bilateral relations” and a “common commitment to protect the right to freedom of religion and conscience”, the Vatican said in a statement.
“There was an exchange of opinions on the international situation, especially regarding countries affected by war, political tensions and difficult humanitarian situations, with particular attention to migrants, refugees, and prisoners,” the statement read.
If you think you’ve never seen a painting by Thomas Kinkade, think again. The late artist, who is said to have sold more canvases than any painter in history, created a cottage industry (pun intended) of ubiquitous, mass-produced art with his blissful landscapes, idyllic street scenes and cozy cottage tableaus. But the beatific, charismatic painter, who developed a rock-star following, was not all that he seemed.
Miranda Yousef, in her feature directing debut, deftly takes on Kinkade’s timely and intriguing story in the documentary “Art for Everybody,” an absorbing, smartly assembled portrait of the mega rise and tragic fall of the Jekyll-and-Hyde-like artist.
Kinkade’s enormous 1990s-era success, which saw his work reproduced on everything from collectible plates to La-Z-Boy loungers, dovetailed with the period’s culture war against the sexualization of art. The born-again Kinkade stepped into that breach, doubled down on the family values bit and became known as a creator of images that the Christian community, among other groups, could embrace. But how much of this was opportunism and how much was true belief?
Yousef, who also edited the film, vividly dissects the artist’s complicated life with the help of strong archival and personal footage as well as candid interviews with family members, colleagues and a solid array of art-world figures.
She first tracks Kinkade from his impoverished Placerville, Calif., youth to his late-1970s days as a bohemian art student at UC Berkeley and Pasadena’s ArtCenter College of Design, followed by his work as a background artist for Ralph Bakshi’s 1983 animated fantasy “Fire and Ice.” (Bakshi, now 86, enthuses here about Kinkade’s talent and work ethic.)
Kinkade’s nascent pieces were often dark and provocative. But it was his move into painting — specifically his signature bucolic pastels with their near-heavenly lighted windows and skies — that would lead him and business partner Ken Raasch to create an art empire that, at its peak, reportedly brought in more than $100 million in annual sales. Kinkade’s eponymous mall stores and QVC appearances were among his many lucrative outlets. He was dubbed the “Painter of Light,” even though British artist J.M.W. Turner first claimed that title in the early 1800s.
But from a sheer artistic point of view, was Kinkade’s work any good? Or was it simply middlebrow kitsch?
Los Angeles Times art critic Christopher Knight, who offers several unvarnished opinions here, asserts that Kinkade “had a quite outsized cultural impact with really bad art.” Of his famed cottage paintings, Knight calls them “a cliché piled upon a fantasy piled upon a bad idea. That cottage is where the Wicked Witch lives… I’m not going in there.”
Journalist and author Susan Orlean (“The Orchid Thief”), who profiled Kinkade for a 2001 New Yorker article that lends this documentary its title, considers his output “very sentimental, a little garish and kind of twee,” despite its admittedly broad appeal.
Yet Kinkade, often seen in the film’s clips as confident and ebullient with a kind of evangelist’s fervor, pushes back against the naysayers by contending, “All great art is not about art — all great art is about life.” And he took that belief to the bank, literally.
But it’s recent interviews with Kinkade’s wife, Nanette (they married in 1982), and their four millennial daughters — Merritt, Chandler, Winsor and Everett — that provide the doc’s emotional heft and shed valuable light on the tumultuous man behind the serene paintings.
Yousef masterfully carries us along from the women’s happier memories of Kinkade as a devoted family man to someone whose work and fame began to supplant the needs of his wife and kids. His family says he could be “manic” and “hard to connect with” and, from a few behind-the-scenes clips of Kinkade at promotional events, he seemed to treat his then-small daughters like props for the cameras. In addition, the artist comes off as smarmy and contentious at times, belying his “holy man” persona and populist vibe.
From around 2006 to 2010, a series of major business downturns, including a bankruptcy filing and several key lawsuits, led Kinkade into a downward spiral of troubling public behavior and substance abuse. (Footage showing Kinkade’s compulsive need for booze is unsettling.) His family, angry and fearful, even staged an intervention to force the former teetotaler into rehab. Though he reluctantly went, the therapy didn’t take. He died in 2012, at age 54, from an accidental overdose of alcohol and Valium.
Ultimately, the centerpiece of the film is the Kinkade daughters’ posthumous discovery of a vault that houses a trove of their father’s unseen, artistically challenging work, much of which shows an underside that few people knew — or could have ever imagined. The women’s reexamination of their complex dad’s demons and flaws, vis-à-vis these unearthed creations, proves illuminating and poignant.
Among the doc’s other interview subjects are former Times investigative reporter Kim Christensen, who wrote severalarticles about Kinkade’s legal troubles, which included art gallery fraud; Kinkade’s college girlfriend, who recalls his sometimes hostile, dualistic nature; and artist Jeffrey Vallance, who curated the only major survey exhibition of Kinkade’s work, held in 2004 at Cal State Fullerton’s Grand Central Art Center.
But even without that devastating emergency, there are other signs that the city has entered a precarious period.
Construction of new homes has steadily slowed, even as housing costs climb. Film and television productions have been fleeing the city, wounding an entertainment industry already in crisis. President Trump’s trade war and immigration crackdown threaten two other pillars of the economy: international trade and tourism.
On Monday, Bass will offer her assessment of the city’s overall health during her yearly State of the City address. That same day, she will release her budget for 2025-26, laying out her plan for addressing yet another huge problem: the city’s financial crisis.
Faced with a nearly $1-billion shortfall, Bass has been weighing whether to lay off more than 1,500 city workers — or almost 5% of the workforce — while also eliminating some vacant positions. Those behind-the-scenes deliberations have left many at City Hall anxious about the potential impact on street repairs, street lighting, animal shelters and public safety programs.
City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, who took office in December representing part of the Eastside, said she has been taken aback by the magnitude of the challenges.
Los Angeles City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, who took office in December, said she was taken aback by the magnitude of challenges facing City Hall.
(Ringo Chiu / For The Times)
“I knew our city services were broken. I knew we were not having the healthiest budgeting. But I didn’t expect to have to consider thousands of possible layoffs,” she said.
Bass, for her part, is seeking to project optimism. In interviews with The Times, she highlighted last year’s reduction in street homelessness, a recent double-digit drop in homicides and shootings, and a fire recovery that she said is moving more quickly than following other massive wildfires.
“The city has challenges, no question. The city is not in decline. The city, in fact, is going to prepare to welcome the world in a little over a year,” Bass said, referring to the 2026 World Cup.
Bass said she is still hoping to avoid employee layoffs, in part by securing financial relief from Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state Legislature.
The mayor and several council members went to Sacramento last month to highlight the city’s dire financial condition. The mayor also spoke with Newsom by phone on Thursday about the crisis — and the city’s need for aid.
“I didn’t hear from him that there is no hope. I hung up with hope,” she said.
L.A. Mayor Karen Bass speaks at a discussion with local leaders and residents to mark 100 days since the start of the L.A. wildfires at Will Rogers State Beach on Thursday.
(Carlin Stiehl /Los Angeles Times)
While Bass publicly touts the idea of state financial relief, her labor negotiators are working behind the scenes to persuade the city’s employee unions to make financial concessions, such as postponing pay raises scheduled for the upcoming fiscal year. Those increases, backed by Bass over the past two years, are expected to add about $250 million to next year’s budget, which takes effect July 1.
So far, the talks have not yielded results.
Last month, the board of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, which represents nearly 8,800 officers, took a stand against postponing the raises.
“You deserve every bit of compensation you receive,” the union’s board of directors said in a message to members, “and the city must look to other areas to tighten its belt.”
Service Employees International Union Local 721, which represents more than 10,000 civilian city workers, had a similarly combative message.
David Green, president of Service Employees International Union Local 721, vowed to stop “out-of-touch bureaucrats” from balancing the budget “on the backs of city workers.”
(Al Seib / For The Times)
“We’re not going to allow the out-of-touch bureaucrats … to balance the budget on the backs of city workers,” said David Green, president of SEIU Local 721.
The prospect of deep cuts to city services could further complicate Bass’ bid for reelection. Although she does not yet have any well-funded challengers, she remains a frequent target of criticism from real estate developer Rick Caruso, who ran against her unsuccessfully in 2022.
Caruso, who has not divulged whether he will run a second time, recently posted a video on social media highlighting the results of a new poll from the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, which found that L.A. County residents were deeply frustrated with the region’s high cost of living.
That quality-of-life survey, which included residents outside L.A. who cannot participate in its city elections, showed that 49% of respondents had unfavorable views of Bass, up considerably from the prior year.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass speaks in January with Pacific Palisades residents gathered at Santa Moncia College to learn about the logistics of debris removal.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Mindy Romero, a political sociologist who runs USC’s Center for Inclusive Democracy, said the Palisades fire and the events that followed eroded some of the goodwill the mayor enjoyed during her first two years in office. Monday’s speech, she said, could allow Bass to reset the narrative.
“The State of the City, the State of the State, the State of the Union — all those types of reports out to the public are always about informing the public, but they’re also about setting a tone,” Romero said.
Darry Sragow, a Democratic Party strategist, said the dissatisfaction felt by L.A. voters goes beyond wildfire recovery.
The discontent stems not just from big issues, such as the loss of entertainment industry jobs, but also day-to-day matters such as broken sidewalks, pockmarked streets and lengthy 911 wait times.
“There’s a sense that things are not under control,” he said.
Sragow contends that the city’s financial problems are largely self-inflicted. And he voiced strong doubts about a windfall arriving from Sacramento.
“I don’t know that there would be a lot of sympathy for plowing a huge amount of state money into rescuing L.A.,” he said.
In the run-up to her State of the City speech, Bass has begun dropping hints about her upcoming budget. Appearing in Pacific Palisades this week to mark the 100th day since the outbreak of the fire, she said she will not cut the fire department budget.
Nor does she plan to make any cuts to Inside Safe, her signature initiative for fighting homelessness, she told The Times. “We still have to solve the city’s problems,” she said.
Some City Council members have begun expressing concern about the cost of Inside Safe, which relies heavily on leases with hotels and motels to temporarily house people moving off the streets.
Mayor Karen Bass signs her first city budget in 2023, which provided $1.3 billion to address the homelessness crisis. Now, some worry about the cost of the city’s homeless programs.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
By early March, Inside Safe had moved more than 4,000 homeless people indoors, according to a public dashboard. Of that total, about 1,350 eventually returned to the streets, while another 70 died.
Bass, as part of her effort to reduce homelessness, has cut red tape for certain types of affordable housing projects. But housing construction has still been on a downward trajectory.
Last year, the city’s Department of Building and Safety issued construction permits for 8,706 homes, a 43% drop compared to 2022, the year Bass took office, according to a report from the research firm Hilgard Analytics.
Mott Smith, who chairs the Council of Infill Builders, an advocacy group focused on development issues, said the city has failed to make meaningful progress in approving policies that will make it easier to build homes. As a result, he said, major investors and lenders are fleeing the Los Angeles market.
“Even the most die-hard boosters are questioning whether it makes sense to do business here,” said Smith, who served on a city working group focused on streamlining the permitting process.
Smith said the slowdown in housing development is depriving the city of property tax growth, which in turn reduces its ability to deliver services.
Advocates for the entertainment industry have argued a similar case, saying the loss of local film and television shoots is having a ripple effect on the economy — and weakening the city’s tax base.
With fewer local productions, L.A.’s entertainment workers are spending less at supermarkets, restaurants, dry cleaners and other businesses, said Monica Levinson, a member of Producers United, which met last week with the mayor’s team to seek additional support for the industry.
“People are not putting money into the economy,” Levinson said.
Last month, City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo informed the City Council that tax revenues were expected to come in $315 million below previous projections, due to a slowdown in local economic activity.
Bass said she will continue to push for expanded tax credits for the entertainment industry, while also searching for ways to cut filming costs locally. On housing, she said she wants a faster permitting system but also believes the problem is caused in large part by market forces, such as higher interest rates.
Some at City Hall fear the budget crisis could result in a reduction in repairs to city infrastructure, such as streets and sidewalks.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Meanwhile, the city is confronting yet another financial issue: the growing cost of payouts stemming from police misconduct, broken sidewalks and other types of lawsuits against the city.
The city will need to devote an additional $100 million to legal payouts — both settlements and jury awards — in the coming budget year, Szabo recently told the council.
Bass portrayed the downturn in economic activity and the soaring cost of legal payouts as the biggest drivers of the city’s budget woes. She expressed zero regret about her decision to boost the wages of police officers and other city employees, saying the move was needed to prevent workers from leaving.
Former City Councilmember Bernard C. Parks, who ran the council’s budget committee for eight years, attributed much of the city’s financial woes to the high cost of its public employee salary agreements.
Parks, a former LAPD chief who served on the council from 2003 to 2015, said he adopted a strategy for spending taxpayer funds early in his political career: “Never put anything in the budget that can’t be sustained.”
Now, Parks said, every layoff approved by the city will mean a reduction in some type of city service.
Times staff writer Noah Goldberg contributed to this report.
That was the assessment of dejected Fermanagh manager Kieran Donnelly after his team lost a game they should have won at Brewster Park.
After bossing the second half, Fermanagh’s seven-year wait for an Ulster Championship win looked a near certainty when they led by seven points with seven minutes to go.
But two late goals by Daniel Guinness and Ryan McEvoy snatched a dramatic 2-19 to 0-23 win for Down.
“I said to the boys in there – and they’re devastated – that collectively I’m just proud of them, they did everything we asked of them,” said Donnelly.
“That’s the way the game has been swinging all year in terms of momentum and when you lose it as we did for those last five minutes…it was one of the best Fermanagh performances in a long time so we feel we have to take the positives out of it.”
Fermanagh’s utter despair was in stark contrast to the huge relief felt by Down but both camps were in agreement about one thing – that the better team had lost.
“As someone says, at least Dick Turpin wore a mask,” said Down selector Mickey Donnelly, referencing the infamous 18th century highwayman.
“I’m sure Fermanagh are devastated and rightly so. They deserved to win the game.”
Down will play Monaghan or Donegal in the Ulster SFC semi-final on Sunday 27 April.
The Wanted star Jay McGuiness breaks down over bandmate Tom Parker during an emotional chat with comic Helen Lederer in emotional scenes on the BBC hit show
Singer Jay McGuiness breaks down in tears over his late The Wanted bandmate Tom Parker in moving scenes on BBC show Pilgrimage. Jay, 34, sobbed during a conversation with comedian Helen Lederer, 70, and said afterwards: “I cried more than I’ve ever cried.”
Jay had to take a break during filming to sob in private. He told Helen: “I need to have a little cry in the toilet.” Tom died in March 2022 aged 33 after revealing to fans in 2020 that he had an inoperable brain tumour.
On whether he talked to his fellow singer, he said after filming: “I have, yes? it’s a conversation which [will] always be coloured by the question of, like, ‘Can you even hear this?’ While he was sick, I definitely had moments that I would say I prayed, and then when he passed away I sort of felt like, ‘I wonder if he can hear me now’.
“I felt that did really sort of ignite a lot of questions that I’ve left unanswered, and in some ways, I know I’m searching for that catharsis. I’m really open to the idea there’s something out there.
“If we do all go into some global consciousness… God or whatever, then Tom would be there, and I’d be able to speak to him, but whether he can speak back is another question.”
The show, Pilgrimage: The Road Through the Alps, is an ideal way for Jay to explore questions about faith.
In the three-part BBC Two show, Jay joins presenter Jeff Brazier, 45, Helen, The Traitors winner Harry Clark, 24, comedian Daliso Chaponda, 45, Paralympic athlete Stefanie Reid, 40, and journalist Nelufar Hedayat, 37. Together, they walk nearly 186 miles from Austria to Einsiedeln Abbey in Switzerland over 12 days.
Jay, raised in Nottinghamshire in an Irish Catholic family, said: “I agreed to go on this Pilgrimage because it just sounded the perfect thing to do. The rule book that comes with being a Catholic is too judgmental for where I am. I think the closest I can get to what I am, would be considered agnostic. I don’t believe there is a God, and I don’t believe there isn’t.”
Helen Lederer talks to Jay McGuiness(Image: BBC)
Jay, in The Wanted with Tom plus Siva Kaneswaran, Max George and Nathan Sykes, added: “But I would love to know a little bit more about what I am. So, I’m looking forward to that.”
The celebs are at one stage seen traversing a snow-capped mountain during the hit show.
He said: “You wouldn’t want a pilgrimage to be easy, would you? If we’re going to be pilgrims and kind of re-enact what thousands of people have done over the ages ahead of us, then we want to face a little bit of adversity, and you can always guarantee the weather will provide you with a little bit of that.” The shared purpose helped the celebs open up with one another.
“Inevitably we got to know each other really well, as you can’t talk about religion and spirituality without talking about life itself and the experiences that you’ve had,” he says.
Pilgrimage: The Road Through the Alps, airs over three nights from April 20-22 at 9pm on BBC Two & iPlayer.
